What stirs your affections for Jesus?

I was challenged by a feature I read in Leadership magazine the other day. Interestingly enough it was an interview with Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, a mega-church in a Dallas suburb, who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and whose "Pray for Matt Chandler" page on Facebook has over 31,000 followers less than a week after its creation. In the interview he is asked what it means to "war against sin", and his response is what caught my attention: "We want our people to think beyond simply what's right and wrong. We want them to fill their lives with things that stir their affections for Jesus Christ and, as best they can, to walk away from things that rob those affections..." What a concept!

So when I read this the other day, I felt as though God was challenging me to consider what things really do stir my affection for Christ, and I came up short. I couldn't think of anything. Later, some conversations with old friends caused me to thank God for His work in their lives in ways that I could not have imagined, and suddenly it dawned on me that among other things, like the beauty of nature, God's transformational work in the lives of those around me was what most stirred my heart to love Him more. So today I am thanking God for His work all around me in the lives of others.

I once heard a description of God's work that makes so much sense to me, that I think is worth sharing. It was about getting up in the morning with the knowledge that God is already at work, and that we are to simply join Him in what He is already doing. Scripture tells us that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) He gives us the privilege to join with Him in His work, and so often I overlook that in favor of fixing my eyes on the minutiae of my own life (or the myopia of focusing on my own life) Did Jesus not say that to gain my own life I must lose it?

Since I've written this post over a several day period, my thoughts feel fractured and disorganized, but I did want to share it with you anyway.

Oh, the other thing I'd like to share is that Nathanael's counts continue to rise. Thank you Jesus!